Summer is Coming

We're in the final countdown.  School is on the way out.  Summer on its way here.  Around here, that means good things.  Things like sleeping in.  Reading a book in bed when you wake up.  Sunshine on your face.  And, of course, The Fun Jar.

I've lost track of how many years we've done the Fun Jar in our family.  Suffice it to say that 12 year old Anna can't remember a summer without it and I'm fairly certain 7 year old Kate has never lived a summer without it.

If you're new here, the premise is this:  each summer, we make a list of all of the activities we want to do over the summer.  Then we set about doing them.  That first summer long ago, we drew slips of paper out of the jar on Monday and e-mailed our friends to invite them to join us for Wednesday Fun.  The days, methodology and technology for sharing our plans have changed over the years.  This summer, our Fun will be on Fridays.  (Anna is dancing Monday through Thursday, so that effectively started and ended discussion of which day to do Fun Jar.)

I'll be honest and say our methodology is open for discussion at this point.  I would personally like to fill the jar with our ideas and then draw them out, one for each week and plan ahead.  But the Fun Jar long ago ceased to be about me.  My daughters will undoubtedly have an opinion about my blasphemous idea to PLAN.  I think for them part of the fun is the spontaneity.  So while the technique remains to be determined, you can be sure of this:  summer fun is waiting and we want to share it with you.

In addition to our traditional Fun Jar activities, we'll be doing Sweet Treat Tuesdays.  Anna will be dancing at Centennial Park on those days, so we'll use that as our central location.  As you can imagine, that will mean trips to Bobby's Dairy Dip, Pinkberry, Elliston Place Soda Shop and more.  These days are as much for me as the girls:  when they're begging for one more Sonic run, I'll remind them that Tuesdays are never very far away.  And each Tuesday, we'll have some kind of frozen treat to celebrate summer.   These locations will certainly be announced weekly - as much to pacify my daughters as anything else.  (And it's just as easy for us to determine these weekly as it is to plan in advance for them.)

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